


There Will Come Soft Rains

by crescendi



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - Post-Apocalypse, Alternate Universe - Road Trip, Apocalypse, Dead Aradia, Humanstuck, Light Angst, M/M, No real plot tbh, Quadruplet Striders, Self-Indulgent, Soft Apocalypse, Tag As I Go, Trans Karkat Vantas, Trans Male Character, not twins quadruplets
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-01
Updated: 2019-01-20
Packaged: 2019-05-31 21:18:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,731
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15128009
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crescendi/pseuds/crescendi
Summary: “The end of modern society started quietly, subtly, slowly. Through animals becoming bolder, the wilds growing thicker, the ocean becoming more restless, tremors increasing.It ended loudly, quickly, unmistakably. Animals attacked the humans that had taken over their homes, trees uprooted and crashed down onto construction sites, tsunamis were born suddenly, earthquakes ripped apart neighborhood. Oddest of all, it lasted a day. 36 hours at the most.Since Sollux Captor’s father never came home from work and his brother wasn’t responding to him screaming his name up and down the streets of Mount Carroll, it was a good guess all of his family was dead.”After the end of the world, Sollux Captor goes on a road trip to find other surviving communities. He never expects to find an old friend.((self-indulgent humanstuck solkat soft apocalypse au don’t look at me))





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> i don’t have a beta reader so uh

The end of modern society started quietly, subtly, slowly. Through animals becoming bolder, the wilds growing thicker, the ocean becoming more restless, tremors increasing.   
  
It ended loudly, quickly, unmistakably. Animals attacked the humans that had taken over their homes, trees uprooted and crashed down onto construction sites, tsunamis were born suddenly, earthquakes ripped apart neighborhood. Oddest of all, it lasted a day. 36 hours at the most.   
  
There were a few wide-eyed survivors after all was said and done, shaking and clutching their few belongings, crying with relief into their friends and family’s arms.   
  
Since Sollux Captor’s father never came home from work and his brother wasn’t responding to him screaming his name up and down the streets of Mount Carroll, it was a good guess all of his family was dead.   
  
That was a pleasant thought.    
  
He kicked a rock, not bothering to watch it skip down the street, blinking back tears behind his glasses.

  
Aradia was dead too, if the look on her family’s faces had meant anything. Still, he _had_ to ask. _Had_ to ask, “Ith Aradia…?” He couldn’t even get the full question out.

Her sister nodded gravely, murmuring a “sorry”. Sollux hadn’t had the guts to even get out an apology or respectfully back away. Instead, he’d turned, ran in the other direction, and cried behind the destroyed remains of a Dairy Queen. Smooth.

Which was how he got here, slowly trekking to his house as the only known Captor alive. Somewhere in his brain, a plan was forming. It had to do with his shitty car, his dad’s work with solar panels, and getting the  _ fuck _ out of Dodge.

He paused in front of the run-down house. Well, it definitely wouldn’t be considered run-down compared to the rest of neighborhood now 88% of it was fucking  _ wrecked _ .

Sollux shook his head. He didn’t think about what happened. It was how he’d survived the past nineteen years. Don’t think about the traumatic shit too much. Keep yourself busy so you  _ can’t  _ think about the traumatic shit too much.  _ Definitely _ don’t think about how your dad and brother and girlfriend all fucking died in the earthquakes that shook the small town of Mount Carroll, Illinois, leaving you all alone.

Because that shit would break you. And you don’t want to be broken.

Sollux turned the brass knob and stepped inside, refusing to acknowledge the skateboard propped up by the door or the note hanging on the fridge. Instead, he made a beeline to the garage.

He shuffled through the larger boxes, muttering.  _ Where the fuck were they? _

It took him far longer than he should have to find the solar panels. When he did, he realized he should’ve thought this out more. He had no way of moving it easily, seeing as he was fucking weak. Sollux groaned loudly, and started looking for the trolley, which took him another twenty minutes.

He carted the trolley with the panels outside, muttering to himself, trying to figure out how all the wires and conductors and shit would work, then drove the horrid van that one shade of silver-blue that seemed so rampant in vans and minivans alike out into the driveway. (Listen, the garage’s fucking cramped with amount of shit that’s in there. The Captors are hoarders. Shameful ones.)

By the time everything was laid out, Sollux had a decent plan circling in his mind on how to hook up the solar panel to the car. Gasoline would only carry it so far, and who knew if any gas stations were still operation?

Sollux ran a hand through his hair, and started to work.

\----

Following the instruction manuals his dad had left lying on the kitchen table along with one last unfinished cup of coffee Sollux carefully avoided looking at for too long, it took him a month and a half to hook up a panel to the roof of the van. It wasn’t the prettiest job, with some wires and shit visible, but what the hell. 

All that was left to see if it worked.

Tossing a few old CDs into the car (you’re not going to roadtrip looking for surviving communities without music, okay), Sollux sat in the driver’s seat, hands braced against the steering wheel. Moment of truth.

He pressed down on the gas pedal, and the car lurched forward. A grin cracked his face. It worked.  _ It fucking worked _ .

Hysterical laughter bubbled in Sollux’s chest, and he leaned forward, a smile so wide it was stupid painted on his face.

The van rumbled lowly, and Sollux continued to drive, carefully turning in circles. Changing the way it was powered shouldn’t have changed how the van handled  _ that  _ much, but he still wanted to make sure. It was fine. It was...better than fine. It was almost normal. He could almost imagine he was fifteen again and—

He shut that thought down before it could branch into painful territory.

He pulled the van into park, and ran inside, still riding the high that came from his success. He came back out with his arms full of food from all five food groups—meat, chips, candy, liquids, cheese, and plants—popped the trunk, and dumped it all into the back, and repeated the process until he had food for a good week or two. He already had pens and a pad of paper in there. So there was no need to get those.

Sollux settled back in the driver’s seat. This was happening. This was a thing that was happening.

He exhaled slowly, heart pounding with the thrill of it. He backed out of the driveway and onto the road out of town. 

\----

Three hours later, he was starting have some second thoughts. 

See, Sollux had a Thing. That Thing let him ride out an impulse for a long time. Days, weeks, months. The Thing also happened to be hard to identify until the impulse was ridden out.

Apparently, this solar-powered roadtrip was a result of this Thing, but it was too late. He’d already crossed into Indiana, and had no idea how to get back home. Wonderful.

He started to wonder about the merits of stopping the car and living off of junk food for the rest of his life  _ holy shit that’s a person right in the middle of the road what the fuck are they doing _

Sollux just barely pulled the car to a stop before hitting the guy. “What the shit?” he muttered, squinting at the form. He started to get out of the car. “The hell are you?” he called, frowning

The guy’s eyes were in a panic, probably because he’d just been nearly hit by a van.

“Hey! Did you hear me, athhole? Who the hell are you?” Sollux continued, walking towards him.

The guy’s jaw dropped. “Holy fuck, is that you? Sollux?”

Sollux stopped dead in his tracks. “ _ Karkat _ ?”


	2. Chapter 2

“ _ Karkat? _ ”

“Yeah, it’s me asshole,” Karkat shouted back. He was holding a bag. “Jesus Christ, you’re still alive?”

“Tho are you, I thee,” Sollux replied, walking forward until he was in front of Karkat. His lisp was prominent as ever—probably  _ more  _ prominent than usual, if anything—but he couldn’t bring himself to care. “Dammit, KK, five yearth with no letterth? No contact at all?”

Karkat rolled his dark eyes. “So that’s what you do right after reuniting with your goddamn childhood friend after the fucking apocalypse, huh? Bother him with inane questions about his history of correspondence? I expected more out of you, maybe a hug, but apparently I can’t even get that! Serves me right for expecting something from Sollux Douchebag Captor.”

Sollux rolled his shoulders. “Jutht get in the van, Vantath.”

He did not get into the van. “What the hell did you do to that car.”

“Tholar power. More reliable rethource than gatholine.” Sollux pushed his glasses up his nose, which were starting to slide down due to the beads of sweat forming in the Midwest summer heat. How long had Karkat been walking? “KK. Get in the van. We have AC.” Sollux did his best to sound authoritative. He didn’t need Karkat dying of dehydration and a heat stroke on him, not when they’d finally met again.

The promise of AC was what did it. Karkat relented and started stomping to the car, muttering under his breath, the bag occasionally smacking against his thigh, and jumping into shotgun when he reached it. Sollux went around to the back of the van and pulled out two water bottles for Karkat from the cooler.

Karkat’s head was thrown against the seat, baring his neck. His eyelids were fluttered shut. Sollux slid into the driver’s seat and cranked the AC up to full blast, and Karkat let out a guttural groan, peeling himself off of the seat, and pulling off his sweat-slick shirt before collapsing back into the position he was in before, panting. Two dark scars crossed his chest, constraining against his pale brown skin, assuaging the worst of Sollux’s fears, because going for an extended walk in the 90°F summer heat with a blinder was exactly the kind of thing Karkat would do.

“You finally got top surgery, huh?” Sollux commented, not wanting to sit in awkward silence. At least his lisp was under control.

“Yeah, it was fucking worth it.”

Sollux brought one bottle to Karkat’s lips. “Drink,” he ordered. Karkat did. He brought the other bottle to Karkat’s temple. This was how you cooled down a person, right?

“Fucking thank you,” Karkat gasped, hand reaching up to replace Sollux’s bony ones.

Sollux ran his hands through his dark hair just to keep them busy. “So,” he said. “How’s your family?”

“Dad got crushed by a building, but Kankri’s still kicking, the asshat.” He somehow managed to sound outraged at the fact his brother survived, something Sollux might cut off a finger for. “There was no one fucking left alive that we could find, so I struck out on my own—I am  _ not  _ staying with my motherfucking obnoxious brother without the buffer of my dad for any extended period of time—which is how I got here.” He shrugged, trying and failing to look and sound nonchalant about his recent orphaning. “What about you?”

“Dad, brother, and Aradia’s all dead,” Sollux said shortly, finding the horizon a convenient excuse to not meet Karkat’s eyes. “Converted the van to solar in, what, less than ten weeks? Started driving today, looking for any community that might be still living.”

“Shit, I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be.”

Karkat slowly sat up, lowering the bottle from his forehead and unscrewing it to chug the water. “So,” he said, dropping it back into the cooler when he was done. “Where are we going next, Captor?”

Sollux opened and closed his mouth, loathe to let him how little he’d thought the trip out. “Don’t kill me,” he settled on at last.

Realization dawned on Karkat. “You didn’t fucking plan this at all, did you, you  _ fucking dumbass. _ ” His tone was accusatory and sharpened.

Sollux dropped his head to his chest with a loud groan.

“You’re lucky I’m too fucking dehydrated to go off on your ass, Captor, because if I was…” He trailed off in what Sollux assumed was meant to be a threatening way.

“Yeah.” He laughed, but something began climbing up into Sollux’s throat. “Yeah.” His voice cracked. Tears started to flow. He couldn’t stop them.

“Oh!” Karkat said, voice rising in alarm. Sollux curled into himself, sobs from pent-up grief over the last month all coming out in one mess of a bawl. “Oh, um.”

A little awkwardly, Karkat reached out and took the taller Sollux in his arms, patting him on the back. Sollux balled up Karkat’s shirt in his fists. He hadn’t spoken more than twelve consecutive words to anyone, hadn’t been touched, hadn’t laughed, for  _ nine weeks _ .

“Thorry,” Sollux babbled. “Thorry.”

“Don’t...don’t be.”

\----

Karkat had the foresight to bring a map where Sollux hadn’t, and found where there should be a hotel. They got to it as the the sun started to dip below the horizon. Half of it was collapsed and the weeds were knee-high, but it was in far better condition than Sollux expected.

“Wonder what triggered all this, you know?” Sollux asked. “Why now.”

“‘Cause humanity fucked up everything, and Mother Nature was like, ‘You know what, these fucking chimps have fucking destroyed all of my shit, cutting down all these trees and poking holes in the ozone and being dicks to animals, so I’m gonna give them a taste of their own medicine! See how they look being tr—”

“Yeah, I doubt that Mother Nature has the same inner monologue as your average Karkat,” Sollux interrupted, dropping their bags on the floor.

Karkat rolled his eyes. “Well, you get the point,” he groused.

Sollux tried the TV. It didn’t even turn on. He suspected as much—he hadn’t even been able to get a signal on the radio.

By unspoken agreement, they shared the bed, staying on opposite sides like they were kids again. Karkat’s breathing was so fucking better than the ear-ringing silence that had permeated his house, and for the first time since the world ended, Sollux slept through the night.


	3. Chapter 3

“What’s the date, even?” Sollux wondered as he drove through Indiana. Most of the billboards had collapsed, but a few were still standing, pushing for state budget changes, or tearing down political figures, unaware the days for government were numbered. 

“No fucking idea. Sometime after August 2nd, cos that’s when my phone died.” Karkat slouched in his seat, staring out the window. “And you don’t have a car charger, do you?”

“Nope.”

Karkat muttered what was presumably obscienties under his breath. “Great.”

“Yeah, but there’s no signal. All the towers got knocked out or something.”

“Most of the powerlines too,” Karkat said. “Just noticed that.”

Sollux sighed. “Damn shame.”

Karkat sat up suddenly, eyes wide. “Stop here.”

“I thought we were heading north?”

“Sollux, fucking  _ stop your shitty-ass van right the hell now. _ ”

Confused and slightly panicked, Sollux slowed the van to a stop to the side of the road. “What? What is it?” he asked, slightly alarmed.

“There’s a  _ lake. _ ”

“Karkat, did you really make an entire fucking ordeal out of an everyday body of water?”

“We have been driving for-fucking-ever,” Karkat groused, rolling his eyes, unbuckling himself, and opening the door. 

Sollux did not move. “Are you really going t—” He was abruptly cut off by the door slamming shut and the quickly-shrinking shape of Karkat out of the passenger window, towards the pool of peaceful pool of blue lying several feet from the road.

Sollux stared after him for a few more moments, before sighing in (apparent) defeat and opening the door to jog after Karkat.

Karkat was already kicking off his shoes and wading into the water by the time Sollux caught up. With a sigh, Sollux slid off his own, and followed him in.

The water was cool and pleasant against Sollux’s skin, and he couldn’t suppress a sigh of relief. Karkat laughed, loud and delighted, now waist-deep, and Sollux couldn’t stop a smile from twitching at the corner of his mouth. “Should we worry about, I dunno, chemicals or something?” he wondered aloud.

Karkat shrugged, and dove under the water, and resurfaced a momented, hair slicked to his skin. “Too late now.”

Sollux muttered, now knee-deep, and, suddenly, Karkat grabbed him by the collar and dragged him under the cold water. Sollux resurfaces with a yelp, shirt sticking to his body uncomfortable. It felt good compared to the heat, but it’s not like he would admit it to Karkat. Sollux tried to glare at him, pushing up his glasses. “Fucking really?” he complained under his breath, but he was smiling.

And suddenly, Karkat was kissing him.

Sollux’s shoulders tensed, and Karkat pulled back suddenly, eyes wide. “I’m so sorry,” he babbled. “I am so fucking sorry.”

“For what?”

Karkat shook his head, backing away. “For—for—” He struggled with the words for a moment. “You know,” he settled on, not meeting Sollux’s eyes. “What I did. Just now. Kissing you.”

“Um,” Sollux said, not quite sure how to how to respond. Because on one had, he still missed Aradia a lot, and wasn’t sure if he was ready to move on yet.

On the other, he didn’t mind Karkat kissing him, and  _ definitely  _ wouldn’t mind if he did it again.

Karkat was still talking. “...and I know you probably hate me now, and you probably don’t want to go on this—this roadtrip thing anymore with me and you’re probably—”

“Karkat.”

Karkat stopped mid-sentence, eyes wild and miserable.

“I—” He swallowed, not sure what to say next. “Karkat—Just—can you—” He took in a deep, steadying breath. God, this was going to be awkward. “Can you...kiss me again?” he finally choked out, not meeting his eyes. 

Karkat stared at him for a moment before he nodded, and slowly walked over and kissed Sollux again.

 

\----

 

They wasted the day away, skipping stones (or at least trying to) across the lake.

“So.” Karkat said at last. “How long have you liked me?”

Sollux cast his thoughts back. Really, for a long time, now he thought about it. Before Aradia. Dating Aradia probably was what set his interest in Karkat aside.

“Not sure. For a long time, I think.”

Karkat bit his lip. Obviously, that wasn’t the answer he was looking for.

Sollux laid back in the grass, staring up at the evening sky. “So we’re a thing now.”

Karkat did not reply, so Sollux went on. “Because, well, I like you? And you like me.”

“Yeah,” Karkat said. “We’re a fucking thing now. Boyfriends or whatever.”

Karkat laid down besides him as Sollux laughed, and grabbed Sollux’s hand in his own.

Underneath the stars, they slept.

 

\----

 

The next day, they started to the drive up to Michigan and the temperature quickly declined from from eighty degrees to sixty, and a thin fog started to roll in. Sollux didn’t mind, but Karkat grumbled through the first few hours.

“You really think someone is gonna be here?”

Sollux shrugged, casting a glance up to the sky. The sun was at its peak. “Maybe. I mean there’s, what, ten million people? There should be  _ some  _ survivors unless Mother Nature decided to hit Michigan especially hard.”

Karkat stared out the window as Sollux carefully steered the van around a section of the road that was apparently ruptured by what he assumed to be an earthquake.

A shape of something was forming in the distance through the fog, low to the ground.  _ Many  _ somethings. Sollux leaned forward, squinting, slowing the car down. “Karkat, am I seeing shit, or are those  _ tents _ ?”

Karkat leaned forward. “Those are tents,” he confirmed. Then the implications of that seemed to hit him. “Holy shit,  _ those are tents! _ ” 

Sollux brought the van to a halt a several feet away from them and jumped out, walking out, not sure what he was going to say. Karkat fell into step beside him.

People began to notice them, emerging from their tents. Some started walking towards them. Others stayed where they were.

One of the people walking towards them grabbed Sollux’s arm. He tensed automatically.

“Are you okay?” the woman asked, peering over a pair of glasses.

“Fine,” he replied, wishing he had thought this out a little more. “How long has this--settlement existed?” He hated the way his voice shook.

Her mouth twisted in an odd expressions. “I think you’ll want to meet someone.”

\----

Terezi Pyrope had brick-red hair, cherry-red glasses, and grin and as wide as the continental US. She surveyed Sollux and Karkat with barely-masked vicious glee.

“So,” she says, leaning back in her seat. “What brings you here? We can’t house anymore residents--we’re at capacity, I’m afraid!” She seemed overly animated, and the fact her eyes were hidden added to the effect, somehow.

Sollux and Karkat exchanged glances.

“I wanted to find all communities in the--the States and record them and...spread the word about them. Spread hope.” He made up the last part on the spot.

Terezi raised an eyebrow above her glasses. “Interesting goal, Mister Captor! And just how much ground do you think you can cover on foot alone?” She sounds exhaustingly smug.

Sollux debated it for a second. On one hand, he could lie, which would probably not go over well with her. On the other, he didn’t want have Terezi have him make fuckton of cars.

“We have a van.”

Terezi steepled her fingers. Her smile had not wavered. “Oh? And how long do you think it’s going to last?”

Sollux took in a deep breath to steady himself. “It’s solar powered, but you know. Go off, I guess.”

Terezi seemed to delight in this, and she cackled longer, louder, and harder than before. “I like you. So!” She leaned forward towards them. “Have you boys got room from one more?”

Karkat made a noise like he was choking. “I--I’m sorry--I’m sorry,  _ what? What  _ did you just say?”

Terezi made a dismissive gesture. “Forget I said anything! We’ll let you stay for...what, two nights? Then you can continue on your merry way.”

Sollux opened his mouth and closed it. There didn’t seem to be a choice.

Looked like they were staying at with Terezi’s Michigan community for now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> terezi is like,, 20x smarter than me. i have no idea how to write her.  
> also i feel like they're a little ooc? but w/e.  
> this was gonna be a little longer but i feel like they've done enough this chapter lmao


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi this is literally so fucking rushed but i haven't updated since july 2018 so i slammed this out finally also it's not proofread so sorry for any mistakes hh

“Hey, Sollux?”

“Mhm?”

“Are we really just going to—let Terezi come with us. I mean, we barely know the goddamn woman.”

A gusty sigh. “I don’t know, KK. She seems...well, she’s a good person, I think.”

“I don’t trust her as far as I could throw her.”

“Though I bet she could throw us pretty far.”

A snort. “Jokes aside, have you fucking seen her doing the heavy lifting? Like,  _ damn. _ ”

“I wonder what the glasses are about, though. I’ve never seen her take them off.”

“Not to mention the legal metaphors.”

* * *

By the end of the second night, they’d added to their stock of food in the trunk. Terezi had been nice enough, although  _ nice  _ was a relative term. She hung around them, not always directly interacting with them, but Sollux was willing to bet she had them in her line of sight at all times, or at least had someone watching them for her.

Still, she meant well. Maybe. Who could tell with Terezi? Certainly not him.

Sollux leaned against the van, hands shoved into his pockets, waiting for Karkat. It had cooled down considerably since that day where he found Karkat walking alone in the midwestern heat, but it was still  _ hot.  _ Eighty degrees, by his guess. 

“You ready?” he called, leaning forward. Karkat and Terezi were talking intently, Karkat gesticulating wildly.

“Just a minute!” Terezi called. Sollux rolled his eyes, but waited without complaint.

Less than a minute later, both Terezi and Karkat walked up to the van. Sollux lifted an eyebrow, but did not comment.

“Hey, Sollux,” Karkat said. “Can I talk to you?”

This, naturally, put Sollux’s anxiety’s levels at 200%, but he shrugged and said. “Thure.”

Goddammit it.

 

* * *

 

“I think we should take her.”

Sollux pursed his lips and dragged a hand through his hair. “Are you thh — sure?”

“Yeah.”

“Why?” He couldn’t rationalize it in his head, no matter what angle he studied it from. Terezi was barely more than a stranger to them.

“She wants the best for us and the future,” he insisted, bouncing on his toes. Sollux could feel a rant coming on.

“ _ Us _ ?”

“Humanity,” Karkat clarified

“I —” Sollux shifted, re-planting his shoes in the dirt. “ _ Jesus _ , Karkat.”

He looked unsure, but still determined, chin raised and jaw jutted out. Sollux met his eyes.

“Only if you’re absolutely sure.”

“I am.”

“Okay, then.”

Karkat looked taken aback. “W — you’re fucking serious?  _ Why? _ ”

_ I’d trust you with my life, push come to shove.  _ “Can’t hurt, can it?”

* * *

 

 

Terezi sat in the backseat, leaning forward, pointy elbows resting on the shoulders of the front seats. Sollux gunned the engine. “Where to?” she asked, bouncing one of her legs.

“West,” Karkat told her. “To California.” In reply came an affirmative whistle. Sollux gritted his teeth and started driving.

No. He was not jealous. It was just. Okay.

Terezi was  _ undeniably  _ smart. One of the smartest he’d ever met. And she was interested in Karkat, maybe romantically. Maybe not, he didn’t know way she swung. And Karkat seemed interested back, in whatever way Terezi was. They seemed to click.

Sollux wasn’t  _ jealous, _ okay? He knew there would be people above his level, and he trusted Karkat. But he didn’t trust Terezi. Not yet, anyway.

“So the plan was to head north, then west? Seems like there’s a more efficient way to go there me!”

“It was an eventual goal,” Sollux said, maybe too short.

Terezi hummed and fell silent.

“Okay, Terezi,” Sollux said at last. “Tell me about yourself.”

“Well! I  _ was  _ on my way to get a degree in the law, which was sadly cut short by a landslide crashing through the campus. So I gathered up the survivors, looted some buildings, set up camp, and here we are!”

Well. That got that out of way, he guessed.

“Now tell me a little about  _ your  _ tragic backstory, Mr. Captor.”

Karkat glanced at him and set a hand on Sollux’s thigh.

“I—my brother and parents died.” He left out the part about Aradia. It still hurt, a dull ache in his chest. “And I guess I had to do something to...keep myself busy. And that’s when I found Karkat wandering around like an  _ idiot— _ ”

“—well, you found me, didn’t you, so it all turned al-fucking-right, didn’t it—”

“—and we made out in a lake, very romantic, and then you know the rest.”

“And if you’ve got a problem with that, asshole...Sollux, how fast can we stop?”

Sollux tipped his head from side to side. “Pretty fucking fast.”

“Pretty fucking fast,” Karkat repeated. “And we’ll dump your ass  _ pretty fucking fast _ too.”

A little harsh.

“Then it is a very good thing,” Terezi said, not fazed in the least, unreadable behind her red glasses. “In fifth grade, a girl by the name of Nepeta Leijon awakened a lust for womankind in me!” She cackled, apparently, finding that hilarious.

She didn’t say what happened to Nepeta. Sollux decided to take it as she moved away or something, because the alternative was too sad for him to deal with right now.

The trees, sparsely scattered throughout the roadside landscape, slowly grew more and more distant. Green, occasionally marked with jagged edges where the earthquakes had struck, stretched in all directions. Terezi rolled down the window and inhaled deeply, taking in the scent of the countryside. Sollux’s foot pressed down on the gas pedal, slowing increasing the speed, until it was simply a green blur. Fuck it, right? There were no more police officers anymore. Karkat stiffened beside him, and not in the good way, so Sollux let off the gas. Terezi fidgeted in the backseat.

“God.” Karkat broke the silence at last. “Why the fuck are we being so fucking quiet? It’s creeping me the hell out. I thought you’d and Terezi be yapping at each other non-stop.”

Terezi coughed. “Can’t I simply enjoy the scenery?”

“How, when Captor here is driving so fast we can’t see shit?”

“That’s harsh, KK,” Sollux retorted, both hands still on the wheel and eyes on the horizon.

“It’s true, fucker.”

“Doesn’t change the fact it’s harsh.”

Terezi snorted. “You two are quite the lovebirds.”

Karkat and Sollux exchanged glances. “Yeah,” Sollux relented. “Yeah, we are.”

“I mean it! It wasn’t clear before, but now you’ve confirmed that you two are an item, it is almost glaringly clear. The way you insult each other, but get all pissy when anyone insults the other. It’s endearingly gross.”

“Isn’t it ‘grossly endearing?’”

“No. Endearingly gross.”

Endearingly gross.

“I like it,” Sollux said.

“Of course you do,” Karkat groused.

He leaned over to peck him on the cheek (the road was straight and it’s not like there was traffic or anything). Karkat shrieked, batting at Sollux’s face, and skewing his glasses. Terezi threw her back out in harsh laughter, and Sollux laughed too, and Karkat huffed and things were good.

**Author's Note:**

> title from the poem by sara teasdale of the same name


End file.
